advice on MUni purchase

General
1

I am shopping for a MUni. It will be my first so I am hesitant to
shell out too much, although to date I’ve done about a year of light
offroad riding on my Semcycle Deluxe with street tyre, and I love it
so far. I came across this MUni on unicycle.uk.com:

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=85

It looks attractive at a price of GBP 195 (excl shipping). 2 GBP = 3
US$.

Specs of the UDC Max Traction - 24 x 3 MUni as offered by
unicycle.uk.com are:

Halo Identitti Contra 3.0 Tyre, White Halo Combat Rim, 36 Hole Susue
Hub, 14 Gauge stainless steel spokes, 150mm Bicycle Euro Cranks, DX
style pedals, Nimbus 28" frame (or the new Nimbus II frame for GBP 10
additional), Double seat clamp. Viscount saddle (or Miyata for
additional GBP 15). Call before ordering, these are built to order.

(Website says cranks are upgradable, I think I’d prefer 170 mm
cranks.)

Has anyone experience with or recommendations on this particular MUni?

Klaas Bil

2

Re: advice on MUni purchase

Klaas Bil wrote:

> Specs of the UDC Max Traction - 24 x 3 MUni as offered by
> unicycle.uk.com are:
>
> Halo Identitti Contra 3.0 Tyre, White Halo Combat Rim, 36 Hole Susue
> Hub, 14 Gauge stainless steel spokes, 150mm Bicycle Euro Cranks, DX
> style pedals, Nimbus 28" frame (or the new Nimbus II frame for GBP 10
> additional), Double seat clamp. Viscount saddle (or Miyata for
> additional GBP 15). Call before ordering, these are built to order.
>
> (Website says cranks are upgradable, I think I’d prefer 170 mm
> cranks.)

Unless you live in a really hilly part of the Netherlands (ahem), I’d
stick with the 150s.

Not sure about the Viscount seat, I swap my air/gel/leather Miyata seat
between the Coker and the Max.

BTW, I picked up some street cred by having a Halo Combat rim - the kids
in the area recognised it and were really impressed. They liked my DMR
V8 pedals too. I don’t think they expected to be envious of “unicycle
parts”. :slight_smile:

> Has anyone experience with or recommendations on this particular MUni?

If you like riding through mud, you’ll love the Max Traction. If you
don’t like riding through mud, you’ll love the Max Traction and will
very soon love riding through mud. Trust me, you’ll be as happy as a not
very sweaty pig in a nice clean field of mud.

Buy one. Buy one now. Go on. Go. :slight_smile:

> Klaas Bil

Regards,
Mark.

–

Fujitsu Telecom Europe Ltd,| o
Solihull Parkway, | In the land of the pedestrian, /|
Birmingham Business Park, | the one-wheeled man is king. <<
Birmingham, ENGLAND. | O

3

RE: advice on MUni purchase

Hi Klaas,

The Max Traction is a great uni for the money… but I have a few
recommendations:

Upgrade to a Nimbus II frame so you can fit in a Gazzaloddi 24x3 tyre
(http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=64) The
Contra tyre is good but personally I prefer the wider, flatter profiled
Gazz. The extra air volume it has over the Contra means it rolls better and
being wider makes it more stable.

I ride with 170mm cranks and wouldn’t use anything else for MUni. 150’s are
fine but when you need lots of torque the 170’s win the day. For trail
riding without too many big ups and downs 150’s will do fine though.

You need to ask about the Viscount? :wink: Actually, with the new Miyata saddles
being what they are, the Viscount might be the way to go and wait for the
Velo seats to arrive and get one of those when they do.

The pedals give god grip but are unsealed so you can expect them to creak
and grind after a while.

The rim is very good indeed and can take the fattest of tyres no problems.
You can get them in black - these are 10 times stronger, triple the height
of your jumps and only weigh 1g. Oh yeah - they look cooler than the white
ones too :wink:

Suzue hubs are very strong and should last and last.

Um… that’s all I can think of right now. Drop Roger a line and I’m sure
he’ll sort you out with whatever you want.

Cheers,
Neil

-----Original Message-----
From: rsu-admin@unicycling.org [mailto:rsu-admin@unicycling.org]On Behalf Of
Klaas Bil
Sent: 26 June 2002 10:29
To: rsu@unicycling.org
Subject: advice on MUni purchase

I am shopping for a MUni. It will be my first so I am hesitant to
shell out too much, although to date I’ve done about a year of light
offroad riding on my Semcycle Deluxe with street tyre, and I love it
so far. I came across this MUni on unicycle.uk.com:

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=85

It looks attractive at a price of GBP 195 (excl shipping). 2 GBP = 3
US$.

Specs of the UDC Max Traction - 24 x 3 MUni as offered by
unicycle.uk.com are:

Halo Identitti Contra 3.0 Tyre, White Halo Combat Rim, 36 Hole Susue
Hub, 14 Gauge stainless steel spokes, 150mm Bicycle Euro Cranks, DX
style pedals, Nimbus 28" frame (or the new Nimbus II frame for GBP 10
additional), Double seat clamp. Viscount saddle (or Miyata for
additional GBP 15). Call before ordering, these are built to order.

(Website says cranks are upgradable, I think I’d prefer 170 mm
cranks.)

Has anyone experience with or recommendations on this particular MUni?

Klaas Bil

rec.sport.unicycling mailing list - www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu

4

Re: Re: advice on MUni purchase

Dammit man, stop it… this is the one I’ve been looking at every day for the past week or so. I thought my willpower could just about hold out until you came along…

I’ve had an explorer window open at the picture of it all day now, it’s that bad.

Must… resist… buying… wonderful… new… muni!!! Aaargh!!!

Phil, just me

5

Just buy it, Phil. Quit torturing yourself. You won’t regret it. Come on, quit being a chicken. Everyone will think you are cool. Quit being a little a little wimp and just buy it. Do you have something better to spend the money on? I didn’t think so. buy the unicycle. You would probably just waste the money on something unimportant and fleeting, like food. I better see a reply that you’ve bought it or “I shall be forced to taunt you a second time.”
-Gauss

6

> Just buy it, Phil. Quit torturing yourself. You won’t regret it. Come on, quit being a chicken.
Aaargh! Stop it!!!

> Everyone will think you are cool. Quit being a little a little wimp and just buy it.
Won’t they think I’m cool enough with my 20" uni?

> Do you have something better to spend the money on? I didn’t think so. buy the unicycle. You would probably just waste the money on something unimportant and fleeting, like food.
Well, probably…

> I better see a reply that you’ve bought it or “I shall be forced to taunt you a second time.”

Aargh, you taunt me so! I am still undecided; it is a lot of money for a little student such as myself. It would indeed be cool to have a decent uni with a bigger wheel… but I’d feel like I was spending money I don’t really have. Even sillier is that while it’s useful here (Malvern) when I go back to York in October I can’t think of a single off-road place where it might be worthwhile…

Or do I get it and sell the 20"? But the 20" is perfect for learning stuff on, and is smaller and handier to take around… aaaaaargh!!!

I’m all confused.

Phil, just me

7

Alright, punk. You don’t seem to know what’s good for you. Here is an anecdote: I too am a poor student. One of the poorest (see my recent post about food). I pulled myself together and bought the best muni I could. How? In pieces. First I sucked it up and ordered the Dx32 rim. Once you do that you are commited to build a serious uni. After a little time passed and a tax return wandered in I sucked it up for the big hit. A sickening feeling set in as I clicked to order the profile hub and cranks and pedals and spokes and, gazz, and tube and, gulp hydraulic brake. Once that stuff busted on to the scene and I built the wheel, I knew I could take the last step. “So you ordered the KH24,” You may ask? Heck no! I am a poor punk like you. I built my own frame, which I will post pictures of shortly. cost : $8 as I was finishing that, I threw down for the seat and post and voila: a serious uni that frightens the masses. Virgins hide their eyes, the rest of the girls faint and frat boys try to save face by swearing at me. Church ladies give me dirty looks and the police run me out of parks. Motorists stuck in traffic ditch their ride and run while I mow down cars like a monstertruck. It’s not me, man. It is the muni. It will be you soon enough. Now quit being lame and just order it. Go drink a whole bunch of beer (try to get it for free first) and then you’ll say, “you know what, gauss was right. I am being a scared little boy. I’m gonna grow a set and order that stinking thing now.” You say soon you will move and you will have no place to ride? NO. If you buy a killer muni you will ride it where ever you please. They will be powerless to stop you.
-gauss

just you, dude

8

RE: advice on MUni purchase

Gauss,

> girls faint and frat boys try to save face by swearing at me. Church
> ladies give me dirty looks and the police run me out of parks.
> Motorists stuck in traffic ditch their ride and run while I mow down
> cars like a monstertruck. It’s not me, man. It is the muni. It will
> be you soon enough.

That was a great anthem for people hesitating about buying a MUni. Could we
use it in a future On One Wheel (Unicycling Society of America publication)?

Thanks,
John Foss
President, Unicycling Society of America
President, International Unicycling Federation
jfoss@unicycling.com

9

sure John, I’d be honored. Phil, where you at?
-gauss

10

RE: advice on MUni purchase

Gauss,

> girls faint and frat boys try to save face by swearing at me. Church
> ladies give me dirty looks and the police run me out of parks.
> Motorists stuck in traffic ditch their ride and run while I mow down
> cars like a monstertruck. It’s not me, man. It is the muni. It will
> be you soon enough.

That was a great anthem for people hesitating about buying a MUni. Could we
use it in a future On One Wheel (Unicycling Society of America publication)?

Thanks,
John Foss
President, Unicycling Society of America
President, International Unicycling Federation
jfoss@unicycling.com

11

Yowsers!

I’d fear for my safety if I said no!

However, I think it’s worked. Saturday morning I am on that phone. No more staring at the picture.

Daft really, my new Miyata seat turned up today from unicycle.uk.com. That’s really rather impressively fast…

Phil, just me

12

Although I thought of a good excuse for spending money, anyway… I just say my old uni “broke” after a drop that was just that little bit too big. Curiously enough I might manage to “fix” it after getting the new one…

I had the idea on coming back home on it tonight; I rode over the edge of a Ha-Ha, which is definitely the largest drop I’ve ever done.

It lived up to its name. All I could hear as I rode off speaking an octave higher than normal was “Haha!”…

Phil, just me

13

…and I’ve just remembered I get paid tomorrow!

:smiley:

Phil, just me (I’m looking at the picture of it again…)

14

Re: advice on MUni purchase

On Thu, 27 Jun 2002 09:43:56 -0700, John Foss <john_foss@asinet.com>
wrote:

>Gauss,
>
>> girls faint and frat boys try to save face by swearing at me. Church
>> ladies give me dirty looks and the police run me out of parks.
>> Motorists stuck in traffic ditch their ride and run while I mow down
>> cars like a monstertruck. It’s not me, man. It is the muni. It will
>> be you soon enough.
>
>That was a great anthem for people hesitating about buying a MUni. Could we
>use it in a future On One Wheel (Unicycling Society of America publication)?

I liked it too. But I think it was a shame that you left out the
“Virgins hide their eyes, the rest of the” phrase before the part you
quoted.

Klaas Bil

15

Re: advice on MUni purchase

In a message dated 6/26/02 6:09:58 PM, phil.6vkib@timelimit.unicyclist.com
writes:

<< Or do I get it and sell the 20"? But the 20" is perfect for learning
stuff on, and is smaller and handier to take around… aaaaaargh!!! >>

Keep the 20. I do not yet have a muni, (soon, very soon, just waiting for
the check to clear), But I have owned 3 unis so far, and I can tell you, you
feel way cooler owning more then one at a time. (currently I own none, but
have plenty of scrap metal lying around)

__
Trevor Andersen

16

Re: advice on MUni purchase

phil <phil.6vkib@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
> Even sillier is that while it’s useful here (Malvern)
> when I go back to York in October I can’t think of a single off-road
> place where it might be worthwhile…

Oh come on - you’re not being serious. The North York Moors are
some of the best mountain-biking (and also Muniing) terrain
in the country. Miles and miles of forests (complete with dedicated
off-road trails eg Dalby and the one just up the hill from Thirsk)
and bridleways criss-crossing from one side to the other. Great
hills and fantastic views (as long as the cloud hasn’t come too
far down). Some of the bridleways are wonderfully technical -
some are gloriously peaty - others are just whoop-a-minute
swooping and fast.

Not too far from the Dales either - tell the mountain bikers
from the New Inn at Appletreewick that there is no good riding
there and you’ll be hounded out of the county as fast as your
feet can pedal the 20".

Strange really - anyone would think I missed the riding of
Yorkshire compared to the dull Berkshire stuff I get now.

Paul

Paul Selwood
paul@vimes.u-net.com http://www.vimes.u-net.com

17

Re: Re: advice on MUni purchase

Very true… I was thinking more along the lines of “decent trails I can ride to”; here the bottom of the hill is about half an hour’s ride. York is rather flat for that; I can’t really ride to the moors!

Definitely worth looking into though, especially as I think there are more unicyclists up there (ie. more than one…)

Phil, just me